[Elecraft] MH-2 Mic with Kenwood

[Don Wilhelm]

Jack and all,

Not all microphones are created equal, and you have to know something 
about the microphone characteristics and the capability of the 
transceiver that you want it to work with.

Quite generally, there are 2 classes of microphones - dynamic and 
electret (condenser) types.
The electret types need a bias voltage applied to the AF pin (through a 
resistor - usually 5K to 10k to 5 volts or 8 volts).
The dynamic types do not need that bias voltage, and will "sound funny" 
if it applied because the bias offsets the position of the coil in the 
dynamic mic.

The K3, K3S, KX3 and KX2 have menu settings allowing that bias voltage 
to be turned on or off - the K2 uses a resistor connected to the AF mic 
pin to accomplish the same thing.

So -- a Kenwood microphone can be used on an Elecraft transceiver, but 
not the other way around because the Kenwood does not supply bias to the 
mic.
You could modify the Kenwood to add a resistor on the back of the Mic 
Jack between pin 5 and pin 1 to bias the MH2 (note: no dash in Elecraft 
products), or you can add an external adapter to accomplish the same thing.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 9/29/2016 3:52 PM, Jack Satterfield wrote:
> Trying to use the MH-2 mic with a Kenwood radio. It keys the transmitter but
> no audio,
>
> do I need to do anything to the mic for it to work with Kenwood HF radio?
>
>